Zoom is pushing its AI strategy beyond the meeting window.The company has rolled out its Zoom AI assistant to the web as part of its AI Companion 3.0 update, expanding access beyond the Zoom app and opening key features to free users for the first time. The move signals Zoom’s growing ambition to compete as a full productivity platform, not just a video conferencing tool.
With the latest release, Zoom’s AI Companion is now available through a dedicated web interface. Free users on the Basic plan can try the assistant across up to three meetings per month, each with built-in meeting summaries, AI note-taking, and the ability to ask questions during or after the call. Users can also submit up to 20 questions via the side panel or the new web surface. For those who want more frequent access, Zoom is offering a $10 monthly add-on to unlock additional AI Companion features.
Zoom says the goal is to lower the barrier to entry while encouraging users to experience how AI can streamline meeting workflows. To guide adoption, the new web interface includes conversation starter prompts that show users what the assistant can do, from summarizing discussions to extracting action items.
Beyond meetings, the AI Companion is becoming more connected to users’ broader work data. Zoom confirmed that the assistant can now pull information from third-party services like Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, alongside data already stored within Zoom. Support for Gmail and Microsoft Outlook is also on the roadmap, which would allow the assistant to draw context from email conversations and calendars.
This deeper integration is central to Zoom’s pitch. The company believes that its position at the center of millions of meetings gives it a unique advantage when it comes to understanding user intent and context. Meetings often capture decisions, deadlines, and next steps that are scattered across emails and documents. Zoom wants its AI to act as the connective layer that ties all of that information together.
One of the more personal additions is a daily reflection report generated by the AI Companion. The report summarizes meetings attended, tasks discussed, and key updates from the day. The assistant can also suggest follow-up tasks and draft emails based on what was discussed, reducing the manual work that typically follows back-to-back calls.
Document creation is another area getting a boost. Users can now draft and edit documents directly within the AI Companion using meeting content as a starting point. Zoom says projects can then be moved into Zoom Docs for deeper collaboration with teammates. Finished documents can be exported in multiple formats, including Markdown, PDF, Microsoft Word, and Zoom Docs.
Lijuan Qin, Zoom’s head of AI product, said the company’s independence gives it flexibility that larger platform owners may lack. Zoom relies on a mix of its own models alongside third-party systems from OpenAI and Anthropic, allowing it to adapt quickly as AI capabilities evolve. Qin emphasized that Zoom’s access to real-time meeting data helps the assistant deliver more relevant insights than tools that rely solely on documents or chat history.
The update reflects Zoom’s broader effort to reposition itself in a crowded productivity market. While the company became synonymous with video meetings during the pandemic, growth has slowed as hybrid work stabilized. At the same time, competitors like Google, Microsoft, ClickUp, and Notion are racing to embed AI across calendars, documents, tasks, and messaging.
Each of these platforms is trying to capture as much context as possible about how people work. Zoom’s bet is that meetings remain the most information-dense moment of the workday. By anchoring its AI around conversations, decisions, and spoken intent, Zoom hopes to stand out as more than just another AI-powered notes app.
Earlier this year, Zoom also introduced a cross-app notetaker that works across different meeting platforms and even offline conversations. That feature was widely seen as a direct response to productivity tools that aim to replace meeting software altogether. With AI Companion 3.0, Zoom is doubling down on the idea that it can sit above other tools, rather than be displaced by them.
The expansion to the web is a notable step in that direction. It allows users to interact with Zoom’s AI without needing to be inside a live meeting or even inside the Zoom app itself. Over time, that could shift how users think about Zoom, from a place you go for calls to a hub where work context lives.
Whether that strategy succeeds will depend on adoption and trust. Zoom has repeatedly said it does not use customer content to train its AI models, a stance that has become increasingly important as enterprises scrutinize how AI vendors handle data. Giving free users limited access may help build familiarity without raising immediate concerns about overreach.
For now, Zoom’s latest release shows a company intent on staying relevant as AI reshapes workplace software. By bringing its assistant to the web and opening it to free users, Zoom is signaling that AI is no longer an add-on feature, but a core part of its future.
